KC — who was named Lucky by the ship’s crew — is going to be OK, according to Michelle Heyza, founder of A ReJoyceful Animal Rescue in Mt. Clemens, which took responsibility for the pooch Tuesday after its rescue Monday.

“He’s tired. He just wants to rest and be with familiar faces,” Heyza said. “He’s having a hard time walking. He needs his family. He needs his bed and he needs his people.”

The tuckered-out dog was reunited Wednesday with his owners at Wilson Veterinary Hospital in Washington Township, where he was treated with IV fluids. Heyza said his paws, lips and the inside of his ears were frostbitten, but his prognosis is “really good.” He is currently on medication.

Benchich said KC, who will turn 14 on April 20, disappeared Feb. 24. He had been tied up outside that morning for less than two hours when she and her father, David, noticed that the rope had been broken and he was missing.

“We dropped everything and started looking for him throughout the whole neighborhood,” she said.

Benchich said that same day, she put an ad about KC on the Facebook page For the Love of Louie, which lists lost and found animals.

On Tuesday, she got two happy phone calls. The first was from a woman who saw news coverage of the dog’s rescue and said it looked like KC. The second was from the U.S. Coast Guard.

The cutter Bristol Bay was on the lake Monday morning heading north to help another vessel stuck in ice when a lookout noticed what appeared to be a group of foxes in the distance. As the ship moved closer, it became clear that one animal was larger than the rest.

Three petty officers suited up in weather-resistant gear and left the ship to help the dog, which was on the ice about 4˝ to 5 miles offshore from the area between Jefferson Beach Marina and Lake Front Park in St. Clair Shores. They placed it on a stretcher-like device and moved to the ship. The other animals scurried away.

The 140-foot ice-breaking tug pulled into its home port in Detroit. On Tuesday evening, a seaman disembarked to take the dog to a veterinarian.

KC was thrilled Wednesday to see Benchich and her father.

“His tail just started wagging. He lit up like a Christmas tree,“ Heyza said.